Hi Everybody
As of today, I will post a monthly “newsletter’ keeping old and new CAV owners informed of events at Auto Futura.
This newsletter will include a brief production overview, latest vehicle changes and upgrades, customer feedback as well as general items of interest regarding the CAV GT, including what we get up to with our new demo car.
I believe that this letter will serve as a medium through which all owners and interested parties can communicate, and I look forward to receiving feedback.
NEWSLETTER 01 (Nov 2005 )
At Auto Futura all is well. We are working hard at completing cars for delivery prior to our year-end close (unfortunately for the guys we can only afford a 9 day break). Last week we shipped the first two CAV GT’s to our newly appointed agent in Germany, Jurgen Schenten. Jurgen is the owner of MSC Engineering. He and his team will be putting CAV GT’s onto the road and track in Germany, Switzerland. He can be contacted on
info@msc-engineering.com
Another two cars are being shipped to the UK for our new UK distributor, A1 Autocraft, owned by John Dryden. These cars are being shipped in component form for John to assemble at his facility in Newcastle. John has also purchased a factory built CAV GT for use as a demonstrator vehicle, which will be delivered to him by end November. His contact details:
sales@sosltd.onyxnet.co.uk
Two complete cars are presently being assembled for shipment second week Dec to our USA distributor in San Diego, California, VIP Classics.com, owned by Roy Sales. Roy is our biggest distributor, selling two cars a month at the moment. Roy can be contacted on:
roy@vipclassics.com
The assembly team is also putting the finishing touches on a beautiful Gulf car to be shipped to the Congo, of all places. The car was ordered by Mr. Alan Toms, a British Chemical Engineer doing research chemistry for a multi-national company in the Congo. The thing I remember most about Alan was his response to a question: “what are you going to do with a CAV in the Congo?” His answer was: “ I want to scare the locals…!”
Then there is the race car being prepared for the local South African race circuit. It is a 560 hp CAV and belongs to Mr. Johan Hamm. It is in Gulf blue with white stripes. The ZF gearbox has been ordered from the factory in USA and is expected shortly. Though we would like this car on the road by end December, I think early January would be more realistic. I know Johan can’t wait, and needless to say, neither can we!
And then…. There’s the Yellow Peril ! This is to be our demo car as well as the factory guinea pig. It is fitted with a 490 HP engine with fuel injection. The gearbox is ZF and we have fitted 17” BRM’s. Unfortunately the car is being built when time allows, and there’s very little of that at the moment, with the factory in full production. This car is for research and development work, and we will be putting it through its paces on the road and track. Between the 3 of us we anticipate racking up a lot of miles on this machine!
We have acquired a Ford-sanctioned professionally built GT40 replica from the UK. We have stripped down the car for Research and Development purposes and for a detailed comparison of design, construction and components with the CAV GT. We are going to rebuild the car for driving and performance tests together with the Yellow Peril. Should be a very interesting exercise and will feature regularly in this newsletter.
The shaping department is at present shaping a GT40 MK1 body, ready for another set of body molds to be pulled. The second chassis jig has been built. By the look of the 2006 order book, both these are going to be necessary to step up production to meet demand.
The above cars all feature the new upgrades, including the revised, stiffer chassis, completely redesigned suspension geometry and components, upgraded brakes as well as the increased leg and headroom, to name but a few.
Auto Futura have been approached by the Managing Director of the Gulf Oil Corporation ( UK )to build a CAV GT for their marketing campaign. We are very honored and excited at this opportunity and will keep you all informed of progress. Jonathan Turner visited the factory last month and was very impressed with what he saw. Needless to say we are building a full race version in Gulf colours for him.
Auto Futura is also working on another three distributors, Australia, Russia and Dubai ( Middle East ). Having spoken to the interested parties, we are sure that the CAV GT will find a home in these countries as well. An order for two cars has already been placed for Australia and Russia won’t be far behind!
Well everybody, as you can see, things are great here in Cape Town. We are very excited and positive about the New Year. I will keep all informed and will post the next news letter in mid December. I ask all of you to keep in touch and let’s turn this section into a chat room for all CAV owners and interested parties.
Please note: we will try our utmost to answer all queries, but as you can see, time is at a premium, so please be patient.
Good bye for now.
Jean Fourie
Linear Mode
